TRP: Hansel, Larkin, Kheman (Wakeup Call)
Jen: Day 207, a pub in the former Basha territory, after getting Kheman to safety Larkin knocked on the cellar door, giving the signal. The spying window opened and she gave the password, too. No one came in without the signal and the passwort. The door opened and she passed between the two huge thugs standing watch. Security measure number three. The Greenhand hadn't been happy about turning his storage into a hospital room but since Larkin was a Basha, and a well-paying regular, too, he'd been willing to compromise. Larkin blessed the old grump for being one of the last friendly faces she knew around here. One of the few she could still trust, anyway. Hansel stood outside the door, providing yet another layer of security, letting no one past his trident except the Greenhand himself and a waiter. Old man insited he needed someone to haul the kegs out. How he managed to still have a profitable business in times like these was beyond Larkin. She came up to Hansel and nodded a greeting to him, then went to check on Pa. He was still out, still sleeping. It'd been hours. How much longer until she should start to worry? Really worry? Izzy: Hansel nodded to her, shifting his grip on his trident a bit. Waiting. He leaned to glance in after her -- Luci was with Kheman, but she was curled around her staff against the wall, dozing. She'd taken a hell of a fucking hit, earlier. Might've died if Goro hadn't been there. Still fucking insisting on doing her job and watching over her patient. He took a deep breath. Kheman was still out. He straightened and went back to guarding. Didn't know what the fuck he was going to do when Kheman woke up, but he could keep doing this for now. Waiting. Jen: Larkin sat with her father, touching his arm. The time crawled by agonizingly slow as she watched his breathing and after only a few minutes, she couldn't take it any longer. She had to get out of here. Find something to do, something to keep her busy. Izzy: Hansel waited for Larkin to head out again. He started to reach out for her arm, but stopped himself halfway there and just said, "Hey, hey," to stop her. He wanted to ask how Kheman was doing, because he was fucking dying to step in there and check for himself, reassure himself that Kheman was all right. That wouldn't be too fucking helpful, though, him acting unsure about shit. So he told her, "Hey. He's gonna be okay. We'll fuckin' keep him safe." Jen: Larkin turned to look at Hansel, then shrugged. "Will we? He wasn't even safe at the damn Sanctuary. This is just a cellar, and the Sanguines are everywhere." Izzy: "Yeah, well." He tapped his trident against the floor. He wanted to say: I wasn't at the Sanctuary. I'm here. I'll fucking stab anything that comes for him. But that wasn't too fucking helpful, considering he had a record of being the thing that'd come for Kheman. "We fuckin' got him back from Jones. We're all watching out for him now and we're a little more fucking dangerous than Eldathyn pacifists." Roddy and Jonn were just outside. Mishka and Goro and Raef weren't far. Let the Sanguines fucking come if they wanted, as far as Hansel was concerned. Jen: That actually made her smile a bit. Reminded her, though... "Hey, I meant to asks. How did you know about Pa? And why didn't you fucking tell me?" Izzy: "I, ah." He tapped his trident. "Was in the port, with the kids." He angled his head back towards the room where Luci was huddled. "I was fuckin' suspicious 'cause there's not usually so many tiefling pirates in Skyport, and that shit with Jonesy at the wedding, y'know. Jonn did some eavesdropping for me and heard something about Jones having a captive, and I thought, fuckin' Goro, again, you know? But it was something about an old crewmate of mine and Mishka's." Didn't all your crew ... die? Jonn'd asked. "Not, uh. Not a lot of fuckin' people that'd be." He didn't answer the second part. It'd be a lot fucking easier if Roddy hadn't given him that Sending Bead. He wasn't sure if Larkin knew about it or not. Ah, he couldn't fuckin' lie anyway. He just didn't answer. Jen: She listened, nodding along. Made sense, yeah. But still... "You should've told me. He's my dad, for fuck's sake. I know you wanna make it up to him somehow but that was fucking stupid. Getting Pa killed because you don't wanna ask for me for help won't make up for nothing." Izzy: He opened his mouth and closed it, wanting to object and not having any fucking ground to. The read this kid had on him, fuckin' honestly. Like he was clear as goddamn glass. "Yup," he muttered. "Yeah, well. Yeah. Good thing you all showed up when you did." Jen: "Uh-huh. Well, I mean... well." Larkin sighed. She looked around for an empty chair and dragged one over to sit on it with her arms resting on the back. "Was kinda stupid of us, too. Picking all these fights. Should've gone in stealthy like you guys did, just... dunno. Roddy 'n me. To crack us back out. But y'know... still glad everyone came. Didn't expect it of 'em." Izzy: "Eh." Hansel shifted uneasily. "Probably better, the way you did it. Got as far as I did and realized I couldn't avoid a fight anymore, in the hold, and it would've got the attention of everyone on the upper decks, and I couldn't take'em all, so ..." There'd been a moment, there, when he'd been looking right at Kheman between the black powder barrels, and known: I can't fucking save him. I can't do anything. And then his crew had shown up and bailed him out. He squinted at her. "You really didn't think people'd help you? The fuck, man." Jen: "Hm? Nah, that's not what I meant." Those fools seemed to be on board with fucking everything. Even risking their lives to save her father, who they didn't even know. Jumping to it like he was one of their own. "I didn't make 'em do it, is all I'm saying." Izzy: "Yeah, I mean ..." he said slowly. "'Course not. We're fuckin' family." Jen: "But they're not my family," Larkin said, hating how it sounded the moment it was out. "I mean- Goro is like... y'know. But that's different." Izzy: "Huh." He tapped his trident again, trying to not fucking feel bad for her, because he didn't want her to feel fucking ... pitied, or anything. "Well, you might oughta tell them that, 'cause I think they're all under a different impression. Might just get fuckin' argued with, though." Jen: Maybe Hansel had a point there, maybe not. In any case, Larkin wasn't in the fucking mood to discuss family definitions with him, so she just scoffed and said nothing. Izzy: He grunted and didn't push it. Yeah, that was all right. He had a hard fuckin' time buying it, too. They'd all fucking showed up for her, though. It hadn't been for him and Jonn and Luci -- it'd been for her, and Kheman. It was hard to ignore shit like that. Like Roddy and Goro showing up for him, when Jonn had been in trouble. Hard to disbelieve. He shrugged the shield on his back, wanting to say something, not knowing what. "Y'know," he said, then stopped. The hell could he tell her? Jen: Larkin waited for him to finish but he didn't. She tilted her head at him. "Know what?" Izzy: "Nah, I don't ..." He shrugged and shook his head. "I got nothin'. I wanna say something to make shit better but I got nothin'. Sorry, achi." Jen: "It's alright." She sighed and looked out over the tap room. There were a few people but none of the usual cheery atmosphere. All tense, all gloomy. She had nothing else to say either, so she didn't. Izzy: "What, uh." Neither of them were drunk this time. Fucking painfully sober, really. And she still had every reason to stab him, so he figured he probably shouldn't just fuckin' go for it. "What if." He shifted his grip on his trident. "I hugged you. Would you tell me to fuck off, or ..." Jen: Larkin turned her head to look at him, slowly, squinting. "What is it with you and hugs?" Izzy: "Yup. Okay." He hunched his shoulders a bit and dropped that, too. Coyote: Kheman had a nightmare. The nightmare was different this time, though. Normally the nightmares were about the shipwreck: he dreamed of hiding on the ship, and he dreamed of Hansel searching for him. But this time, the nightmare was Jonesy. He dreamed he was in the brig of her ship. He dreamed the air smelled like blackpowder and rum, and his back was soaked with seawater from lying on the ground, and he was so afraid he wanted to throw up but couldn’t. Finally, he woke. The room tilted and swam like he was still on a ship. His stomach cramped. He bolted upright, clawing for something to vomit into, and threw up on the floor instead. A young woman sat in a chair a few feet away, nervously tapping her staff against the wall. Luci, Kheman remembered, from the Sanctuary. She glanced up in surprise when Kheman moved, then grabbed a wastebasket and thrust it at him. “Here,” she said. Kheman nodded gratefully and spat into it. She tutted gently at the mess on the floor, but didn’t seem disgusted by it. She wiped it away with a cloth. But Kheman barely noticed any of this, because Larkin stood in the doorway, Larkin. “Larkin?” Kheman croaked. Her clothes were bloodied and cut, as if she’d been in some terrible fight. Jen: There was noise inside the room and Larkin was off the chair and inside the doorway in an instant. "Pa!" She hurried over, barely noticing the vomit, and went to her knees to hug her father tight. "It's okay," she said, still holding on. "It's okay. You're safe. I'm here." Coyote: Kheman held onto her to steady himself, then immediately felt guilty for doing so. She was so goddamn tiny, even smaller than her mother. He patted her back. Luci slipped quietly out of the room. Was it all another nightmare? The last thing he remembered was being dragged out of the Sanctuary by three tiefling pirates. Looking down the hill below and seeing Jonesy’s ship in port. Then he’d started screaming, knowing what was coming— knowing Jonesy would eviscerate him. Mishka had told them all stories about how vicious she was, how cold. Then one of the women had stuffed a cloth over his mouth to shut him up. It’d had some kind of— fumes. Some kind of drug, he’d thought. But now he was here. With Larkin, somehow. Maybe it’d been a nightmare. Maybe he’d lost his mind, and this was the Sanctuary, and he just didn’t recognize it. Maybe his daughter had just come to visit him. Maybe. “What happened?” Kheman whispered. “Larkin, your clothes.” Jen: "It's fine," she said again, but drew back enough to have a quick glance down herself. Only other people's blood, mostly. "That Jonesy bitch took you but we saved you," she told him. "Blew up her ship, too." Coyote: Kheman stared at her. He felt all the color drain from his face. They’d gone onto Dread Jones’ ship? Larkin has gone onto Jones’ ship. Kheman remembered watching the rest of his crew fight Jonesy, before. Kheman’s job as cook was stay back, stay on the ship, and if anyone came back wounded, he’d keep them alive and until Serena or someone else could help. Jonesy was always terrifying. She’d almost taken them out so many times. And now his daughter was fighting her. “We?” Kheman said. “We who? Who else?” Jen: "The Runners. Remember them? And... uhm." And Hansel. Shit. She'd have to tell him that, didn't she, because he'd find out anyway. But if he knew she hung out with him... fuck, if he knew Hansel was outside his room. "Uhm, Haeth, too. Mikhail." That wasn't a lie. None of it was, just... not all the details. Coyote: Kheman bit his knuckles. He couldn’t stop feeling queasy. He wrapped his arms around Larkin tight, rocking back and forth. At least they were all safe, somehow, which seemed insane. “Okay. Okay. Listen— maybe I should come to live in the city after all.” The Sanctuary wasn’t safe if Jonesy could just walk in there and kidnap him any time she pleased. And then Larkin would come after him again, put herself in danger. Get killed. “Where’s Renar?” Kheman said. “Does he— know? We should get to the warehouse.” Renar wouldn’t just let pirates kidnap his family. Jen: "Pa-"' '''Larkin let go of him, a pained look on her face. She fidgeted with her hands a moment before taking a deep breath to say what she had to. "Renar's... left Skyport. Today. The S-" Damn, no, he didn't know about that. "There's been an attack. A big one, and... and they got him, Pa. They took us out. This is the safest place I could get for you now." She gestured at the room around them. '''Coyote:' Kheman’s breath caught, and his ribs twinged where the pirates had hit him. He grimaced, resting a hand on his ribs. Renar was gone. A sick feeling filled him. He pushed Larkin back so he could look her in the eyes. “Are you going with him?” he asked. He knew Renar. Renar was just gonna set up shop somewhere else, maybe back in the Calimshan empire, maybe somewhere else, some nameless city he could fight his way back up to the top. But Renar was old, now. This wasn’t thirty years ago, when they’d all first come to Skyport. A criminal empire would take decades to build. Decades Renar didn’t have. Still, Renar would try it, and he’d take Larkin with him. He’d take Kheman’s only daughter with him. Kheman wiped his eyes. Jen: "No, I-" Larkin began but thruthfully, she hadn't thought about it. Renar had left her because he thought she was a traitor, but... if he hadn't, would he have taken her? Would she have gone? "I don't know," she said quietly. Coyote: “Larkin--” Kheman hesitated, torn. He gritted his teeth and made himself do it anyway. “Larkin. He’s going to try to rebuild his empire somewhere else. If he does contact you, if he tries to call you to his side and asks for your help… don’t go.” Jen: "I know, Pa, but... listen." She took Kheman by the shoulders, squeezing lightly. "Skyport's not safe anymore. The Sanctuary isn't either. If he... if he goes to Calimport, maybe it's best. I'm not leaving you, I mean. We'd both go." Coyote: Kheman ground his teeth. “No-- Larkin, you don’t understand. It’s not about leaving me… I mean, Selune, don’t leave me, but-- it’s not about that.” He wanted to hug Larkin again. But he didn’t. He kept her at arm’s length so he could look at her. “Your uncle is going to try to rebuild his empire. But he’s old, Larkin. And it’s not going to work. Not really. Don’t go with him and waste your time. You’re young. And you’re-- you’re strong, alright? God, you’re so strong. You can do anything right now. You’re free. If you go with him… he’s just going to use you and waste your time, Larkin. And I love my brother, and I want to help him, because he’s family, and you always fucking stick with family, but-- Larkin, you are my family, and I love you more than I love Renar. And I can’t let my brother waste my daughter’s life. Do you understand?” Jen: "No," Larkin said, shaking her head. "He's not... it's not like that, Pa. You think my life was a waste? It's not! I didn't waste anything." She kept shaking her head''' and move back a bit. Wasn't true. Renar had been hard on her, yes, but he hadn't taken her life, he'd given her one. Pa had to see that. '''Coyote: Kheman shook his head too. “Your life wasn’t a waste,” he said. “It wasn’t a damn waste, Larkin. It’s made you strong. Stronger than maybe you had to be. But— you don’t need him anymore, alright?” Jen: "Why the fuck-" Larkin started, drawing back more, but caught herself. She wasn't going to get angry at her dad right now. She bit it back and in a calmer, strained voice said, "Why does everyone tell me what I'm supposed to be wanting? Goro said about the same fucking thing. I don't need Renar? Well, maybe I want to work for him. I'm sorry, Pa, but I... I... " She sighed out a huff of air. This was turning into an argument and she didn't want that right now. Just wanted to make sure Pa was good. "Listen, we don't have to talk about this now. Let's just... how are you? Do you need anything, water, or...?" Coyote: Kheman winced. If he weren’t drugged, maybe he would’ve argued or said something, but— eh. “I want you to do what you want,” he said, firmly, instead. Wasn’t like he had much say. If he wanted influence over her life, maybe he shouldn’t have spent all his time sailing away from her. He patted her feebly and collapsed back on the bed and closed his eyes. “Water, maybe.” And then they’d figure something out. Somewhere safe to go. Far away from the water and from ships and from pirates. Ha, he thought. Maybe he ought to go to that castle of Larkin’s. Wasn’t like Jonesy could sail to a landlocked castle, right? Jen: Larkin nodded, though he couldn't see it. She patted him back, then got up to go get some water. Outside, she found Hansel still hiding out of sight. She gave him a passing glance on the way to the bar. Looked miserable like a drowned rat, and like he was about to say something but didn't know if he should. Coyote: end Title: Wakeup Call Summary: Hansel and Larkin are waiting for Kheman to wake up. When he does, he and his daughter talk about what happened and what they're going to do now Category:Text Roleplay